According to Clarion University undergraduate course catalog data, Hazel Sandford was a faculty member in the Art department from 1927 until 1955. She was a graduate of the State Normal School, Fredonia, New York. She earned her B.S. from Cornell University; her A.M. from the New York School of Fine Arts, her M.A. from New York University; and did additional graduate work at the Teachers College at Columbia University, the Thurn School of Modern Art, the Carnegie Institute of Technology, and the University of Pittsburgh.
An article on page 1 of the November 12, 1971 issue of the "Clarion Call" student newspaper, published when the university's Sandford Art Gallery was dedicated, provides additional information about Hazel Sandford:
"Miss Hazel Sandford, for 28 years head of the Art Department at Clarion State College, was honored recently when the college Board of Trustees voted to name the art gallery of the Marwick-Boyd Fine Arts Center for her.
Miss Sandford came to Clarion in 1927 and retired in 1955 after a distinguished career embracing all levels of education from elementary through college and including a total of 36 years of dedicated service.
During her long service at Clarion she was an untiring worker who was always generous in her support of college activities. She taught art classes, supported art instruction in the campus school, headed the art department, and was everywhere and anywhere when her talents could add to the appeal of a campus project.
In announcing the action of the board, President James Gemmell said that a plaque would be mounted in the gallery commemorating Miss Sandford's career at Clarion and properly identifying the facility to the public."
